A30211:654
A treatise of the fear of God showing what it is, and how distinguished…A treatise of the fear of God shewing what it is, and how distinguished…
A treatise of the fear of God showing what it is, and how distinguished from that what is not so : also whence it comes, who has it, what are the effects, and what the privileges of those that have it in their hearts / by John Bunyan.A treatise of the fear of God shewing what it is, and how distinguished from that what is not so : also whence it comes, who has it, what are the effects, and what the priviledges of those that have it in their hearts / by John Bunyan.
London: printed for N. Ponder, 1679
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
3. If thou wouldst be rid of an hard heart, that great enemy to the growth of the grace of fear, Be much with Christ upon the Cross in thy Meditations; For that is an excellent remedy against hardness of heart: a right sight of him, as he hanged there for thy sins, will dissolve thy heart into tears, and make it soft and tender. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn (Zech. 12.10, 11.) Now a soft, a tender, and broken heart, is a fit place for the grace of fear to thrive in. But,
2. If thou wouldst have the grace of fear to grow in thy soul, Take heed also of a prayerless ⟨p. 212⟩heart, for that is not a place for this grace of fear to grow in. Hence he that refraineth prayer, is said, To cast off fear. Thou casteth off fear, said one of his friends to Job. But how must he do that? why the next words show, Thou restrainest prayer before God. (Job 15.4.) Seest thou a Professor that prayeth not? that man thrusteth the fear of God away from him. Seest thou a man that prays but little? that man feareth God but little, for it is the praying soul, the man that is mighty in praying, that has an heart for the fear of God to grow in. Take heed therefore of a prayerless heart, if you would grow in this grace of the fear of God.
2. If thou wouldst have the grace of fear to grow in thy soul, Take heed also of a prayerless ⟨p. 212⟩heart, for that is not a place for this grace of fear to grow in. Hence he that refraineth prayer, is said, To cast off fear. Thou casteth off fear, said one of his friends to Job. But how must he do that? why the next words shew, Thou restrainest prayer before God. (